“Fear in Painting”

I went to an exhibition called “Fear in Painting” at Hyogo Prefectural Museum of Art.
The exhibition is supervised by Kyoko Nakano who is a scholar of German literature and a writer. Her famous book series are “Kowai-e”(Fear in painting). I have some of her books.

“The Execution of Lady Jane Grey”

I wanted to watch a painting which has the title of “The Execution of Lady Jane Grey.” It was painted by Paul Delaroche in 1833. It is the first time that this painting is exhibited in Japan.
The blind-folded girl had become the queen of England for only 9 days. The painting illustrated the moment that she was about to be executed. An executioner was standing besides her with an axe. Two maids were bursting into tears at the side. The queen was only 16 years old.
When I stood in front of the painting, I felt scared and sad. Since it was a lot bigger (2.5m x 3m) than I originally thought, I was moved its size. I felt like I was witnessing the live and fearful execution. And the painting was very beautiful.

The Images give me a chill

It deepens the fear once you know the background of the story and imagine what happened afterwards. I watched these paintings in this hot summer day and felt a little scared and chill.
This exhibition is on until September 18th.